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You bet on the taste of a creator when you adopt BDFL-led software. Many upsides and downsides to that. When the founder has a clear vision, good taste, and a willingness to listen to user needs, it’s amazing what can be built.

16/12/24, 10:08 pm0 reposts0 likes

Andrew Lee

@candrewlee.com

16 Dec 2024

So many of my favorite open source projects have very strongly opinionated creators. It’s an ingredient in the secret sauce of OSS success IMO.

Andrew Lee

@candrewlee.com

16 Dec 2024

It can also be the downfall of a project. When the BDFL goes against the will of their users (which *is* their right), they take a risk. In the best case, they reject the proposal, but solve the underlying pain point some other way more consistent with their vision.

Andrew Lee

@candrewlee.com

16 Dec 2024

And in the worst case, you never resolve the pain point and your users either settle or move elsewhere. This issue for #alacritty (and the subsequent rise of #ghostty) is great case study material: github.com/alacritty/al...

github.comAlacritty icon concept for macOS Big Sur · Issue #3926 · alacritty/alacrittyThis is only a rough concept I put together in Figma, but I wanted to explore what the Alacritty icon would/could look like in the macOS Big Sur container style: Definitely not trying to step on an...